Designing recipes

14 min readRecipes

Defining recipes, their elements and ready-made records; group, approval, total rule and PLC transfer settings; recipe objects and design screens.

A recipe is a data set that brings together the production parameters of a product (quantities, temperatures, times …). In Studio you define a recipe in the Recipes section; each element of the recipe is bound to a tag. The records of the recipe (product recipes) can be entered in advance in Studio or are created by the operator in Live and loaded to the PLC. For the operator side, see Operator recipe handling.

The section consists of four tabs: Recipes (definition and elements), Recipe data records, Screen design and Transfer and rules.

Defining recipes and elements

Add the recipe
On the Recipes tab, click Add; enter a Name (example: Serbet) and, optionally, a Display name.
Add the elements
With a recipe row selected, add one row to the Recipe elements table for each parameter. Select the tag to which the value will be written from the Tag list; if no tag is selected, the element cannot be loaded to the PLC (the Problems list warns about this).
Enter the type and limits
Fill in the Data type (integer, decimal, text), Default, Min and At most fields. Every value entered in the records is checked against these rules.
Enter the records or create them in Live
For ready-made recipes, use the Recipe data records tab.

Recipes tab: the recipe on the left, its elements on the right. You can adjust the width of the two tables by dragging the splitter.

For a similar recipe, duplicate the recipe row (Ctrl+D; Table editor). The copy comes with its elements, records, element groups and total rule; the records and rules of the copy are linked to the copy's own elements and do not affect the original recipe. Design screens linked to the recipe are not copied.

Recipe columns

Column	Meaning
Name, Display name	Definition name and the name shown in Live.
Max. records	The number of records that can be kept in the recipe (1 – 100 000, default 500). When the limit is reached, a new record, a copy or a record from the PLC is rejected.
Authorization group	If selected, only users in this group can modify the recipe (save, delete, load to the PLC …). If empty (`(herkes)`), everyone with the Recipe change authorization can modify it (Using authorizations).
PLC transfer, Rules	Calculated summary columns: the DIRECT or HANDSHAKE mode and read-back; number of groups, total rule and approval condition. They reflect the settings on the Transfer and rules tab.

Element columns

Right-hand columns of the element table (scrolled horizontally): length, default, limits, unit, group, appearance, tolerance and lock.

Column	Meaning
Element, Display name	Definition name (unique) and the name shown in Live.
Tag	The tag through which the value is written to the PLC and the PLC value is read.
Data type, Length	Integer, Decimal or Text. The length (1 – 254) is enabled only for the text type; a text value cannot exceed this length. When the type changes, the default and the limits are adapted.
Default	The start value of the new record; the tolerance is also calculated relative to this value. A decimal default is rejected for an integer element.
Min, At most	Accepted value range (disabled for text). The minimum cannot be greater than the maximum.
Unit	The unit shown in the title and in the box (kg, L, °C …).
Group	A group defined in the Transfer and rules tab; in Live it becomes a tab or a heading.
View	How the operator enters the value: Automatic, Number box, Slider (between min / max), Switch (off / on) or Selection list. A slider requires minimum and maximum values and a selection list requires a list of options; otherwise a box is used.
Step, Decimal	Step of the increase / decrease button and the slider (empty = automatic, 1 for integers); number of decimal places shown in the box (0 – 6, empty = as is).
Tolerance, Tol. type	The tolerance accepted around the target (default) value: Absolute (in the unit of the element) or Percent (% of the default). A record value outside it gets a yellow warning in Live; it is the “counts as equal” margin in the PLC comparison and in read-back.
Locked	If checked, the operator cannot change the value; it can be changed only from Studio or from Excel.
Description	The description shown below the element in Live.

The Options… button on the toolbar edits the “value → text” list for the selected element (example: 0 = Kapalı, 1 = Açık). In Live the element's value is selected from this list; the switch appearance uses 0 / 1.

Recipe data records

This tab has the recipe list on the left and the records of the selected recipe on the right: each row is a record and each element is a column. The Status column is either Approved or Draft; a new row is created with the default values of the elements; Fill with defaults resets all values of the selected records to their defaults. Each cell is checked against the rule of its element (number, integer, minimum / maximum, text length). The table can be exported to Excel, filled in and imported back (Working with Excel).

Transfer and rules

Enter the groups, the approval condition, the total rule and the PLC transfer settings of the selected recipe on this tab.

Element groups: Table of names and colors. Elements are bound to the group through the Group column; in Live, the elements are collected under tabs or headings.
Approval › Approval required for loading: If on, only Approved records are loaded to the PLC. A modified record becomes Draft again; approval is given in Live with the Approve button.
Approval › Group that can approve: If empty, everyone with the Recipe change authorization approves; if a group is selected, only the users in that group.
Total rule: The sum of the selected elements must be Target total ± Tolerance (example: mixture quantities 900 ± 5). If out of rule: Block saving and loading to the PLC or Warn only. The placeholders {toplam}, {hedef} and {fark} can be used in the Warning text. The elements to be included in the sum are checked in the list next to it.
PLC transfer: Transfer mode, Ask for confirmation before loading and On a write error (Stop at first error or Log the error and continue writing the remaining elements).
Handshake tags: Only in handshake mode: Trigger tag (required), Ready tag, Busy tag, Done tag, Error tag, Error code tag and Timeout (s) (1 – 600, default 10).
Verification and script: Read-back verification (on / off), Read-back tolerance, Wait before reading (ms) (default 300), Before script, After script and Transfers kept in history (10 – 2000, default 200).

How the transfer works

When the operator clicks Load to PLC, Live performs the following steps in order; only the steps you have configured run, and a preview of this sequence appears below the tab.

Validation and preparation
The record is checked (including the total rule and the approval condition); in handshake mode the trigger tag must be defined, and all selected tags must exist in the project.
Script first
It runs if selected; if the script raises an error, the transfer does not start.
PLC ready
(With handshake) Waits up to the timeout period until the Ready tag is 1 and the Busy tag is 0.
Write values
The value of every element that has a bound tag is written. If Stop at first error is selected, the PLC is not triggered when a write error occurs.
Trigger, PLC busy, wait for Done / error
(With handshake) 1 is written to the trigger tag; the transfer is considered finished when the PLC becomes busy and then the Done tag becomes 1 (or, if there is no done tag, when busy changes from 1 → 0). If the Error tag becomes 1, the transfer ends with an error; if there is an Error code tag, the code is added to the message. When the job ends (success, error, timeout, cancellation), the trigger tag returns to 0.
Read-back verification
The written values are read back after a wait; if the difference exceeds the larger of the read-back tolerance and the element's tolerance, the transfer returns an error.
After script and result log
The after script runs; the active recipe and the transfer history are updated and written to the event log.

Screen design and recipe objects

The default Recipe view object (Controls group) offers the list, table, comparison and history in one package. If you want your own layout, you design a free 2D screen for this recipe on the Screen design tab. The screen is opened directly from the navigation menu, or embedded in another screen with the Screen design property of the Recipe view.

Creating a design screen from a template

Open the window
On the Screen design tab, click the New design screen… button or the Add new design screen row below the table. The same command is also available in the project tree under the Recipes node and in its context menu. If the project has no recipe, you are first asked to define one.
Select the recipe and the template
On the left of the New recipe design screen window, select the recipe. The template cards are arranged in groups, and each card is drawn with the elements of the selected recipe. When you click a card, its large preview, size and description appear on the right.
Select the color theme and logo
Color theme: Navy, Graphite, Petrol, Burgundy; the last choice is remembered on this computer. Logo: None, one of the project images or From file… (PNG, JPEG, SVG, GIF, WebP, BMP; max. 3 MB). The logo sits in the header band; an image selected from a file is added to the project images.
Give it a name and create it
Screen name is suggested from the names of the recipe and the template (for example Serbet_Kontrol); you can change it. Create adds the screen and opens it in the editor. The operation is a single undo step. The template only arranges the objects; afterwards you can freely move, delete or change any object.

New recipe design screen: template cards drawn with the Syrup recipe; Control Center selected.

Group	Template	Size	Content
Desktop screen	Form	1920 × 1080+	Header band, record selector and button card, two-column field cards split into groups, status strip.
	Master-detail	1920 × 1080+	Searchable record list on the left; buttons and group cards with PLC values on the right.
	Control Center	1920 × 1080	Four indicator boxes, an element table with group tabs, a PLC transfer panel and the transfer history.
	Table Editor	1920 × 1080	Full-width element table; Export to Excel / Import from Excel, print and PLC buttons.
	Comparison	1920 × 1080	Large difference table (entries ↔ PLC) and change summary boxes.
	Dosing Recipe	1920 × 1080+	Grouped fields; on the right a total indicator, transfer steps and load to PLC / cancel.
	Batch Loading Flow	1920 × 1080	Three steps: select the record, check the differences, load to the PLC.
Touch and window	Operator Card	1920 × 1080	Large increase / decrease fields for touch panels (first 10 elements) and large action buttons.
Touch and window	Compact Window	1024 × 640	Pop-up window or small panel: record selector, element table, save and PLC buttons.
Basic	Empty	1920 × 1080	Screen without objects; objects are placed one by one from the Toolbox.

1920 × 1080+: if there are many elements, the screen grows taller until all fields fit.

A recipe design screen derived from the Form template, shown in Live: record selector, function buttons, element fields, total indicator and information fields.

In a design screen, the Recipe group appears in the toolbox:

Object	Purpose
Recipe field	The value box of an element (number box, slider, switch or selection); limit band, PLC value, tolerance color, changed marker.
Record selector	Drop-down list or list box; search and status badges.
Recipe button	Function buttons: New, Copy, Rename, Save, Save as, Undo, Delete, Approve, Compare, Read from PLC, New record from PLC, Load to PLC, Cancel transfer, Refresh, Export, Import, Export to CSV, Print, Export to Excel, Import from Excel, Excel template.
Recipe info	Recipe name, record name, record count, state, active recipe, transfer state, total, number of changed items, approval state, last transfer.
Element table, Comparison, Transfer panel, Transfer history, Total indicator, Group tabs	The parts of the view as separate objects.

Limitations and points to note

Recipe records are kept not in the PLC but in the data folder of the Live computer (<Proje>.veri\depo\recete_<kimlik>.json). Values are written to the PLC only with Load to PLC.
The recipe definition should be checked with F7 before it is saved: warnings are issued by the rules for an element without a tag, an element whose default does not match its type, minimum > maximum, the total rule, handshake tags, and an element that has no field on the design screen.
If Recipes is switched off in the Startup sequence, saving, deleting and loading to the PLC do not work; records are not seeded into the store (Live settings›Startup sequence).
If the recipe definition is to be sent to the PLC by a script or scheduled task, a script definition is required for the Before script and After script fields.